In brief: Court reverses felony charges
BOISE – A Kootenai County man has been cleared of three felony charges after the Idaho Court of Appeals ruled a jury lacked sufficient evidence to conclude he had a gun when he angrily confronted friends of his ex-girlfriend in 2010.
David Loren Curry was convicted of burglary, aggravated assault and unlawful possession of a firearm, with a sentence enhancement added for being a persistent violator.
The burglary charge was based on the argument that he entered a garage with the intent of threatening the occupants with a deadly weapon.
The friends said Curry kept his hand in his pocket, and one said he saw Curry partly remove a black object that appeared to be the barrel of a gun. However, no proof was found that Curry actually had a gun, and he never threatened to shoot or said he was armed.
Judge Sergio Gutierrez, writing for the majority in a 2-1 decision, wrote, “We conclude the evidence was insufficient to support an inference beyond a reasonable doubt that Curry had a deadly weapon.”
Man convicted of sex offense
A man who sexually assaulted a 19-year-old Moody Bible Institute student at Mission Park in March has been convicted of a sex offense.
A Spokane County jury deliberated for about an hour and a half Tuesday before convicting John L. Sanders, 41, of indecent liberties.
Sanders faces five years to life in prison when he’s sentenced Sept. 11, said Deputy Prosecutor Patrick Johnson.
Sanders will be required to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life.
Sanders, who was represented by public defender John Whaley, was arrested March 16 after a student told police she’d walked to the park to relieve stress and saw someone trying to get her attention. She was not wearing glasses and “assumed it was someone from her acting class or her church,” according to court documents.
Sanders touched her breast and asked her to smoke marijuana with him, she told police. The woman tried to leave, but Sanders kissed her on the lips, grabbed her and made inappropriate comments and noises.
Self-supporting plan proposed for parks
Officials have cooked up a plan that they hope will save Washington’s 117 state parks from dramatic changes that could include closure of some parks.
Following several years of painful cuts to funding and staffing, the state Parks and Recreation Commission is ready to adopt a more self-supporting financial scheme.
The agency will hold a daylong public meeting at its Eastern Region Headquarters in Wenatchee on Aug. 9 to discuss the proposal and approve a comprehensive report on the condition of the parks system.
A draft of the report is available at www.parks.wa.gov/ Beyond2013/. Commission officials want the public to weigh in on the proposed changes.